


Civvies on Mandalore

by TabbyWolf



Series: Hope will never die [1]
Category: Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: A world between worlds, Accidental Pregnancy, Angst, Canon Divergent, Domestic Fluff, Eventual Time Travel, F/M, Fluff, How Do I Tag This, Love Confession, Mortis - Freeform, Order 66, Sad Ending, Siege of Mandalore, This is basically Jaigs origin story, Very minor underage, and she’s a few weeks away from turning 18, it wasn’t worth adding an archive warning over imo, it’s literally just one kissing scene and a cuddle scene, part of a much larger collection, sad but hopeful ending, similar to rogue one in that aspect, though that’s still pretty far away and it will be fixed in the sequel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-23
Updated: 2019-08-25
Packaged: 2020-05-17 00:04:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 10
Words: 18,210
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19328818
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TabbyWolf/pseuds/TabbyWolf
Summary: Rex and Ahsoka escape order 66, marry and live as civilians on Mandalore. They also have a daughter who has many names, but prefers Jaig. Everything is good for two decades until they’re found out.The fic is approximately 20% Order 66, 50% domestic fluff and 30% angst and major character death. In that order.(This fic is the start of the series. There are more parts that take place in a different timeline)





	1. Escape from Order 66

**Author's Note:**

> First chapter, and we’re going straight into the confession, first kiss and order 66. I have a lot planned for this so I can’t afford to make this one slow burn, sorry

Rex was walking towards the watchtower he saw her, looking at Concordia high up in the sky. It was an odd sight, the clouded brown green moon in the dark sky over the desolate plain that Mandalore was outside of it’s cities. He had heard the planet used to have a much better climate, before the Mandalorians started to be very Mandalorian about well, everything. He couldn’t see her very well in the dark. Still, she was the most beautiful thing on the whole planet. He had to tell her how he felt. 

“Ahsoka, are you still awake?” He asked

“Yes. I couldn’t sleep. Why are you still up?”

“Guard duty, in the west tower. I wouldn’t mind the company if you’re interested.”

“Of course I’ll join you” she said as she hopped of her crate and walked to the west tower with him. It was a few hundred meters away from the rest of the camp. 

“So, what kept you awake if I may ask?” he asked in an attempt to keep the conversation going.

“I don’t know. I just have a bad feeling. Like something terrible is going to happened. I can also feel a lot of turmoil from Anakin. I hope he’s doing alright”

“I hope so too”

They walked the rest of the way in silence.  
When they reached the tower, Ahsoka looked behind her.

“Is something wrong?” He asked

“No, I thought I heard something. But I feel nothing malicious in the force” 

She climbed the ladder and Rex followed behind her. When they got to the top, they looked around in silence for a minute while Rex was gathering up his courage.

“Ahsoka, we need to talk. About something serious”

“How bad is it?’

“I could be court martialed for saying this, but I have to tell you.”

“Rex, no. I don’t want you to be court martialed. Whatever it is won’t be worth it.”

“Please, Ahsoka. Let me say this. If you don’t want me court martialed, you can just make sure no one else finds out I said this. The choice is all yours. But I feel like I’m going to regret it for the rest of my life if I don’t tell you this.”

“Okay, you can tell me what you want to tell me. But only if you really want to.” she said, looking only half as nervous as he felt. He was thankful for being a clone for a moment. He was trained to function under high pressure and this was no different. He took a deep breath and started his confession.

“Well, we’ve been through a lot together. We fought side by side since the Battle of Christophsis, but lately I started to realize that you mean a lot to me. Not just as my commanding officer or even as a friend. I know it’s against regulations and that you probably don’t feel the same way, but I’ve fallen in love with you”

She looked at him with wide eyes, as her lekku turned several shades darker.

Rex swallowed. “If you don’t want to be with me, I’ll respect your decision”

“No, it’s not that. It’s just... I feel the same way about you” she said.

“Why didn’t you say anything?” He said, still shook

“I don’t know, I was scared you’d say yes to a date out of a sense of duty or something”

“Well, it wouldn’t have been the only reason but yes. I would have” He said, finally regaining his composure a bit.

“Well, i just wanted to make sure it wasn’t just a sense of duty” she said as she cupped the filtration system of his helmet and looked into his eyes through the visor

“Can I kiss you?” She asked.

“Yes” He said under his breath

She grabbed his helmet with both hands and lifted it off of his head. Then, she took it in one hand, put the other behind his head and pulled him closer and pressed her lips to his. He kissed her back, unsure of what to do at first, but he soon fell into a steady rhythm with her. He heard the clunk of his helmet dropping to the floor and felt her other hand up the his cheek. He resisted the urge to pick up his helmet immediately and put it away more graciously and instead slipped his arms around her waist, pulling her close.

She broke the kiss to look into his eyes. She smiled at him and he smiled back.

This time, he was the one to lean in and press his lips to hers. She kissed him back, opening her mouth slightly. He let his tongue slip inside her mouth very carefully. Her lips were slightly colder than his own, but he didn’t mind. It just reminded him that he was kissing her, she always felt a bit colder than his brothers. Not that he had ever touched his brothers the way he was touching her now, he wasn’t really into that. In fact, this was his ~~first~~ second kiss. He explored her lips and teeth with his tongue as she slipped her tongue into his mouth. He moved his hand upwards and cupped the base of her back lekku. She made a soft noise and broke the kiss. She stroked the back of his head while smiling at him like he was the most precious thing she’d ever seen

“Is this what you call keeping watch in the GAR?” He heard from beside him.

He immediately broke the kiss and stood at attention next to Ahsoka, who’s chevrons had turned several shades darker. 

“What do you want, Bo-Katan?” Ahsoka asked. 

“I wanted to go over the plans with you and Captain Rex, but apparently I’m interrupting something.” the Mandalorian said. 

“Oh no, it’s no trouble. We should definitely go over the plans” Ahsoka said, clearly still flustered over being caught like that.

“Okay. Well, tomorrow we-“

Rex’s comm beeped.

“I’m sorry, this looks like an important message. I have to take the call” he said. When he turned it on, a hologram of a cloaked figure appeared.

“Captain Rex. Execute order 66” 

He froze. This was it. The order that Fives had warned him about.

“Yes sir” he managed to get out. A lie, but he’d have to get used to lying. He turned off the commlink. 

“Commander, this is an emergency. We have to get you away from the camp, now”

Both women looked shocked, but Bo-Katan was the first to speak. “I’ll gather the men”

“No,” he said, “we have to leave them and go away now. Before they find us”

“Rex, what’s happening?” Ahsoka asked as Rex put on his helmet and looked back at the camp. 

“Order 66 was issued. All Jedi and those associated directly with them are now considered traitors to the Republic. I’m helping you escape, I can’t let you die Ahsoka”

“Rex, what are you talking about?” She said

“Listen on the open comm channel, don’t send anything to avoid being traced” he said

She tuned in to the channel

Jesse’s voice was clear, but he was clearly speaking in a hushed voice. “We have to find her. Look through every tent. Keep quiet. We don’t want to wake her and cause a scene”

Then, her commlink went to a private channel. Jesse was contacting her directly with on an encrypted channel.

“Commander, get out of here. Please. The Jedi have been marked traitors. I’ll give you as much time as I can”

Rex turned his commlink on. “Jesse, this is Rex. I have located the Jedi and I’ll have a clean shot if she’s not distracted. Keep the men quiet. I’m going after her. ...ori'vor'e ori'vod” he said on the open channel

“What are you doing?” Bo-Katan asked, pulling her blaster on him.

“I’m going to help Commander Tano fake her death”

“That trooper can locate us now” she spat out

“I know,” he said, “but Jesse, I and a couple of others made a pact. We’d protect our Jedi if Order 66 ever came down”

“You’re siding with the jetiise over the Republic?” Bo-Katan asked, stunned. “Isn’t that treason?”

“I don’t know. And I’m not siding with the jetiise, I’m siding with her. I don’t consider it treason, my loyalty has always been with her. And even if others think it’s treason, I’m willing to face the consequences for that. If the worst should happen, I’ll have died for someone I chose to die for. And that’ll be worth it”

“That’s sweet, but you won’t have to sacrifice yourself. I have a plan. To my speeder” Bo-Katan said as she jumped off the watchtower with her jet pack. Ahsoka followed suit, using the force to stick the landing.

Rex just went down the ladder as quickly as possible. He mentally cursed himself for not bringing a jet pack. When he caught up with the two women, Bo-Katan had already detached her spare fuel containers and was furiously typing away on the nav computer.

“The bunker should sustain both of you for at least a few moths. Everything you’ll need to know is in the bunker manual near the entrance. Destroy your commlinks and anything else that could be traced before going there”

Ahsoka immediately destroyed her commlink but Rex hesitated. 

“You should go alone sir, I have a locator implanted on my neck. It can’t be removed without surgery or decapitation” he admitted

“No, I’m not leaving you” she said, pushing him towards the speeder.

“The locater won’t be a problem inside the bunker, it’s signal is too weak to penetrate the walls. Now go. I’ll make up a cover story and hold a funeral pyre for the both of you to explain the lack of corpses” Bo-Katan said

Ahsoka kicked the speederbike into action and Rex barely held on. He ripped his commlink off but it slipped out of his hands before he could destroy it. Blast. He put his arms around Ahsoka as she raced towards the bunker Bo-Katan had send them to, away from her men again. But this time, she had Rex at her back.

* * *

Jesse searched the camp again.

“I see a fire over there,” Carbon said, “We should check it out.” Internally, Jesse cringed. That was where he was tracking Rex. But Rex hadn’t moved for a minute so he had probably gotten Commander Tano out of here by now. He had to risk it.

Three minutes later, he and his squad found the fire. It was large, and burned hotter then usual. Clearly, an accelerant had been used generously. 

Bo-Katan was sitting near the fire, clearly distraught over something.

“Sir? What happened?” Jesse asked

Without taking her eyes off the flames, the warrior started speaking.

“I was talking with the Commander when the Captain took a shot at her. She tried to dodge but he still wounded her. She knew it was serious and charged at him, slicing him clean in half like General Kenobi did with Maul. He didn’t die instantly and managed to get his blaster. She practically begged for an explanation. He told her he was ordered to because the Jedi had been labeled traitors. Then he shot her. She died instantly. He lived long enough to transfer command to me and asked me to burn her body, since she deserved a Jedi funeral for being honorable. I gave him one as well, since he showed great honor by respecting her wishes like that even though he had to kill her.”

The squad was silent

“I think we should say our remembrances” Jesse said. The other clones nodded.

“Ni su'cuyi, gar kyr'adyc, ni partayli, gar darasuum. Hardcase, Dogma, Tup, Fives, Kix, Rex, Ahsoka” he said. 

The other clones started saying theirs as well.

“Are those all the casualties?” Bo-Katan asked.

“No Ma’am,” Jesse said, “just the ones I was close to. None of us say all the names any more. We don’t have time for all of them. We do keep them in a file. I think I’ll add Ahsoka too if everyone agrees” he looked around for support. 

“Isn’t she a traitor?” Dice asked.

“Yes, but only legally speaking. Commander Tano had to be killed for the Republic, but it was nothing personal and we know she couldn’t have been part of the coup personally. She was just a Jedi at the wrong time.” 

“She wasn’t even technically a Jedi” Echo added. “I’m in favor of adding her. She was vod’ika to me”

The rest of Torrent nodded in agreement as they looked at the flames burning three now unrecognizable forms. Jesse wondered if his Captain and Commander were really dead or if they had escaped with the help of Bo-Katan. He wasnt 100% sure if removing the inhibitor chips had been enough. He still had to try to resist following the order without the chip, so he wasn’t sure if Rex had managed to do the same. It was then that he noticed Rex was still showing up on the hud, and was apparently less then one meter away from him. It was then that he noticed the torn out com link at his feet. He picked up the device and checked the number. It was indeed Rex’s. He crushed the commlink to destroy any evidence and he immediately noticed that Rex’s tracking signal was still there, but very weak. Like it was the implanted tracker from far away. A few seconds later, it was out of reach. He knew then that his brother was alive, and mentally wished them the best of luck as Bo-Katan took up leadership and started planning tomorrow’s assault.


	2. The Bunker

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rex and Ahsoka hide in Bo-Katan’s family bunker/fallout shelter (I assume they have those on Mandalore)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy :) 
> 
> Here are some translations in case you need them:  
> Dejarik: that one holographic game that you always see characters playing. Kinda like chess. #letthewookiewin  
> Cyare: sweetheart, beloved  
> Cyar’ika: also sweetheart, but more affectionate and less okay if it’s used inappropriately (that last part is my headcanon based on how the same grammar rule works in my native language, Dutch)  
> Cubikahd: a Mandalorian strategy game in which both players have four knives that they stab into a cube. It’s seen in Rebels when Sabine plays it with Fenn Rau  
> Cin vhetin: clean slate (literally white soil), though in the context here it’s a name for a law similar to the witness protection program (but for political immigrants/refugees)

When they arrived in the bunker, the first thing they noticed was how eerie the whole thing was. It was a square room that held 16 bunks, storage supplies full of potable water and ration bars not that different from GAR rations. There was other survival gear as well, but there were some things that could serve as entertainment too. There was a Dejarik table and a hologram projector.

When she walked inside the bunker, her footsteps echoed loudly on the concrete walls. The room, although stacked to the top, felt empty. Or maybe it was the force. She reached out to her master to find nothing. He was dead then. She pushed away her feelings, she couldn’t mourn him now. She had to make sure they survived this first, there would be time for mourning when she was safe. 

Rex sat down on one of the beds and just stared at the wall. She sat on bed opposite of him.

“Can you tell me what happened now?” She asked. She knew better than to be anything but straightforward with him.

“I’ll give you the short version. Fives discovered that we all have chips in our heads that force us to follow certain orders. More specifically, orders we might not want follow. There’s a whole list apparently, and number 66 is to kill the Jedi. I removed mine, I wanted to make my own decisions. But I couldn’t get the rest of the battalion to do the same thing. I didn’t have enough time. And now, it’s too late”

“That’s terrible...” she said. She honestly couldn’t believe it. “I’m sorry, but I have to see this for myself” she got up.

“Ahsoka, please stay. They’ll kill you” Rex pleaded.

“Don’t worry, I’m just grabbing the holoprojector” she said, as she dusted the old thing off and turned it on. 

A news report sprang to live. “...investigators are still trying to figure out what happened, but the Supreme Chancellor will address the senate in a minute despite his alleged injuries. In the meantime, we have received footage from our brave troopers executing the traitors” 

The news cut through helmetcam footage from the Galactic Marines executing Ki-Adi Mundi. She just sat there in shock.

Rex put his arms around her. “I’m sorry” he said

“Don’t be. This isn’t your fault” she said into his armor

He just pulled her closer and ran his hand over her back lekku in a soothing gesture.

When she looked back up, she saw a figure in a dark cloak addressing the senate. He looked like the hologram Rex had received, but in the higher resolution she could make out a burned, swollen face that looked like it might’ve been Chancellor Palpatine at some point.

“In order to ensure our security and continued stability, the Republic will be reorganized into the First Galactic Empire! For a safe and secure society” the figure said, as thunderous applause erupted from the Senate. 

Rex turned off the holoprojector and lifted her in his arms.

“What are you doing?” She asked. 

“I’m distracting you. We can’t start grieving for everyone we lost yet. That will distract us. We have to be ready for battle until we’re in the clear. I’ll keep you distracted, Sir” he said as he set her down at the Dejarik table.

“Fine. But please stop calling me Sir, it feels weird now” she said, pouting a bit.

“Okay cyare” He said with a wink.

“Better.” She said, smiling as she turned on the Dejarik board. She noticed Rex turned a shade darker at her smile.

They played Dejarik for a bit, but after losing seven rounds, she decided she was tired of being beaten by Rex. 

“How do you keep beating me?” She asked, annoyed. 

“Well, I used to play this a lot with some of my brothers. I know you haven’t played it that often, and experience outranks everything” he said 

She smiled as she remembered their first meeting. But her smile faded quickly as she thought about her other men, and Anakin. She couldn’t feel him in the force anymore, and Obi-Wan was gone too. Rex noticed her shift of mood immediately

“They’re gone, aren’t they?”

“Yes, both my master and Obi-Wan. I can’t feel them anymore. Master Plo is gone too.”

“I’m sorry, cyare” he said.

She knew what the word meant. Some of the clones had girlfriends or lovers but had tried to keep it hidden from the Jedi. They had used the words cyare and cyar’ika to refer to them instead. Her men had been honest with her though, and had even asked her for advice.

She walked over and sat on his lap, curling her arms around him and pulling him close “thanks for saving me”

“It’s no problem, cyar’ika. I love you” he said

“I love you too” she said, as the exhaustion finally caught up up her and she drifted off in his arms.

* * *

They lived together in the bunker for almost a month with minimal contact with Bo-Katan. She just told them they had to stay put and not be spotted, and that she’d come back after the siege was over. They mostly mourned their lost brother and Jedi, but also spent their time trying to distract each other from the horrific situation. After they both got tired of Dejarik, they moved on to a Mandalorian strategy game called Cubikahd. They had a laugh about how even a strategy game was all about stabbing on Mandalore, even if it was entirely holographic, but they soon got bored. They found out the bunker had a shooting range, so Rex taught her how to shoot. She also taught him some lightsaber forms, even though they both knew a lightsaber would be too risky to pull out now that being a Jedi was illegal. 

They also followed the war on the news when they could. All the separatists had been wiped out by a new Sith Lord, Darth Vader. He was featured widely on the news, his dark cape usually billowing behind his fully armored body. They could tell he was a cyborg by the way he walked. Ahsoka only knew he was a sith because of the Darth prefix, he didn’t seem to be carrying a lightsaber and he was never referred to as a sith. 

Most of the other news seemed to be covering the recently wiped out Jedi order. Reports of raids the temple which led to more evidence of treason that Ahsoka knew was fabricated. She also noticed the Jedi were being referred to as a religion, with the heavy implication that they were never force sensitive at all. That it had all been Republic propaganda. The Jedi weren’t just being wiped out, they were blamed for the clone wars and erased from history.

At least things were brighter on the local news. Their troops had still managed to execute their plan and after a few days, they got the news that Maul had been killed. Bo-Katan became the new Mand’alor and the clones went back to Coruscant.

* * *

“Never thought it would be like this” Rex sighed as he watched the rerun of his brothers being hailed as heroes for saving Mandalore from Maul before being loaded onto the LAATi’s and being flown back to the Resolute.

She sighed. “I know what you mean. It’s just weird to be on the outside of the war, and watching them leave is just... wrong” 

She snuggled closer to him, running a hand through his hair and newly grown beard. There hadn’t been any razors in the shelter for some reason, so his hair had grown considerably in the last two weeks. His blonde buzzcut still looked like a buzzcut in a vague way, but it was reaching the breaking point. He had already been almost two centimeters long and almost due for a haircut when the order had come down, and by now it had grown two more centimeters.

His beard has grown as much, and she honestly liked it. Even though it was as dark as Fives’s had been, which looked interesting with his apparently natural blonde hair. There was a clear divide in colors that she had a weird fascination with. He let her touch his hair freely now, and seemed to enjoy the attention. But he never commented on it, and she didn’t want to bring it up.

She knew he hated looking as unkept as he did now, so she made sure to let him know she appreciated him being there by cuddling up to him as much as she could. In the last three weeks, it had become a habit of hers to sleep on his chest and she honestly didn’t know how she had ever slept before.

They heard the door open open, and they drew their weapons immediately. Bo-Katan walked in

“Sorry, maybe I should’ve given a call first. But I didn’t want it to be traced”

“Yeah, we could’ve used a warning” Ahsoka said, lowering her blade as Rex lowered his blasters.

“Anyway, I found out what to do with both of you. I can get you two Mandalorian citizenship under the cin vhetin law. That way you can live a relatively normal life in Sundari. Or I can provide you with a ship so you can leave Mandalore and do whatever you want. The choice it yours.”

Ahsoka just stared. “I honestly don’t know. I hadn’t really considered the future to be honest. What do you think, Rex?”

“Honestly Ahsoka, I think we should stay here. Here we can have much better shelter, and we won’t be hunted down as much if we have a clean slate.” He said.

“That’s a good point, but how are we going to fit in?”

Bo-Katan rolled her eyes. “Don’t worry about that. My nite owls were surprised at how well you fit in, and we used to be part of Death Watch. Just learn the language and get needlessly aggressive over sports and you’ll fit right in” she said. “But first, we gotta get you a haircut”

“Finally, I’d really like to look like myself again” he said,

“Actually, I was thinking you should shave of the bleached hair and keep the beard” the Mandalorian said. “We can’t afford you to look like the picture of you that was on the news.”

“It’s not bleached, that’s my natural hair color” Rex protested. “But you’re probably right. My face is already too recognizable as it is. This is why I wanted to stay behind, Sir” he sighed, addressing Ahsoka this time.

“I’m not leaving you behind, Rex. Not now. And I told you to not to call me sir anymore”

“Right, sorry cyare”

“You two should just get married already” Bo-Katan joked.

“We’d have a cover story that way” Ahsoka considered.

“And we could start our own clan instead of being the weird outsiders in an existing clan” Rex added

“Let’s do it” Ashoka said. “Let’s get married”

“I was about to ask that” Rex said

“Wait, you’re actually going to do it?” Bo-Katan asked, bemused

“Yeah,” Rex said. “She already has my loyalty. I don’t see how getting married changes anything”

“Except for the social expectation of having children together” Bo-Katan said

“Togruta and humans aren’t compatible though, biologically speaking” Ahsoka said. 

“And clones are sterile. We all got vasectomies when we were young. You know, to avoid inbreeding between half clones” Rex added

Bo-Katan shrugged. “Well, it’s none of my business. Just be prepared to give that talk over and over again when people ask. It’s none of their business either, but they will ask”

“Then it’s settled. We’ll get married once I’m 18” Ahsoka said

“Wait, you’re not 18 yet?” Bo-Katan said, surprised

“No, but I will be in two weeks” Ahsoka said, sheepishly

“Okay then,” Bo-Katan said “I’ll make sure the papers are done by then. It’s probably best if you two stay here a bit longer while I make sure you two have a house and the right papers. Do you have any skills that you could use to make an income?”

“Yeah, I’m a decent mechanic” Ahsoka offered.

“And I could pick up a trade too if that’s necessary” Rex added.

“Okay, then that’s settled. I’ll see both of you later” she said as she left the bunker. 

After Bo-Katan left, Rex pulled Ahsoka into another kiss. This time, he had had plenty of practice with her and wasn’t nearly as awkward as he had that first time on the watch tower.

“We’re getting married” he said to her. “I still can’t believe it”

“Me neither. What last name do you want to take?” She asked

“To be honest, I kind of wanted yours. But I suppose we can’t do that now” he said

“Actually, we can. My last name is extremely common on Shili. If I register under a false first name, I’ll be able to pass it off as a coincidence. And I’d actually be happy if you took my name”

Unsure of what to say, he just kissed her again.

* * *

A few weeks later, they got married at a courthouse. Neither of them wanted a big fancy wedding anyway, and they couldn’t afford it. They moved into a relatively good place in one on the wealthier neighborhoods since Bo-Katan had insisted. She claimed they deserved it and that living in a good neighborhood would make them less suspicious because most people suspected fugitives to be lower class. Ahsoka started working as a mechanic and Rex learned to blacksmith. They still missed their bothers, but they got by and were happy with their new life as Ashla and Rex Tano

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed it. I’m sorry the last part is kinda epilogue-ish. The next chapter will be after a three year timeskip and I didn’t know how else to write all the things I wanted in there without having it look very forced.
> 
> Please leave kudo’s and comments if you enjoyed. It means a lot to me


	3. A New Life

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ahsoka and Rex have been living as civilians for three years now and have adapted quite well. They have a happy life with a good income from their mechanics and armor business.
> 
> Then, Ahsoka finds out she’s pregnant and has to decide if she wants to keep it, find out if she can without too much risk and how to deal with the fact that Human/Togruta hybrids are thought to be impossible, which might make people think she cheated on Rex.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this is why it’s tagged with accidental pregnancy. It’s not as angsty as most fics with that tag though. This chapter is quite fluffy.

Ahsoka woke up with Rex wrapped around her. He always tried to spoon her during the night. When were newly married, she hadn’t been into it since he had a tendency to squish her lekku in an unpleasant way, but now that he put her back lekku over his shoulder and let it lay on top of him she didn’t mind. Even if that usually meant having his beard on the sensitive skin underneath. It was an odd sensation, but she had gotten used to it and she still liked his beard and bald head. She didn’t really want to get up soon, it was a weekend and they didn’t need to do anything

“Morning, cyare” Rex mumbled into her montral as he pulled her even closer. He grabbed both of her front lekku with one hand and started massaging them.

“That’s not going to do much, I’m not in heat” she said, turning around to face him

“Aaaw, that’s no fun” he said, looking disappointed. She knew he was a bit too much into her heat for someone who’s species didn’t even have heats. Human women had menstrual cycles instead of estrous cycles, which she really didn’t envy. Sure, the over sensitive lekku and unpleasant wetness every month weren’t fun if he didn’t have Rex at her disposal, but at least she didn’t bleed. 

“I figured you’d be in heat by now. It’s been almost six weeks” he said

“You keep track of that?” She said, bemused

“Of course, I wanna know when I get to help out again. Besides, we’ve been married for over three years now. Did you really expect me not to notice the pattern after all this time?” He said, winking

“I don’t know what I expected,” she said, pushing him onto his back and pinning him down on the bed, straddling him, “but does it really matter if I’m not in heat?” She pressed a kiss to his lips

“No” he whispered into her kiss as he slid his arms up her back towards her lekku

* * *

Later that day, she was at the pharmacy to pick up new bandages and bacta. They both worked with their hands so it was important to keep up their medical supplies up so they always had some if they got a cut or burn. While browsing the store, she thought about what Rex had said about her being late and suddenly realized why she could be late. She tried to banish the thought. She and Rex weren’t compatible biologically speaking, so she couldn’t be pregnant. But still, she wanted to be absolutely sure of that. She picked up a pregnancy test as well.

When she got home, she immediately grabbed the test out of the bag and went into the bathroom. No need to wait until she dispelled her unfounded paranoia. She took the test out of the box, read the instructions and took the test. While she waited, she mentally berated herself for being so paranoid. 

After two minutes, she looked at the test. It was positive.

She just stared at the test blankly. She was pregnant. She didn’t even know how to feel about it. Her first instinct was to panic about what her master would say, but he wasn’t here. He had died protecting the younglings in the temple from the 501st according to the news. She usually didn’t trust the imperial news, but this seemed like something Anakin would’ve done.

Her second thought was that she had to tell Rex. She honestly didn’t know what to do, but they’d figure it out together.

She found her husband lounging in the living room, watching some kind of documentary on his datapad. He always had to download them from the holonet as the imperial networks mostly showed military propaganda full of banthashit about stormtroopers, which pissed him off easily. He hated those shitty nats. It wasn’t even the fact that they were nats or that his brothers were being phased out of service, it was the level of incompetency displayed by those idiots. They were basically the Coruscant Guard in the extreme. They rarely saw real combat and usually just stood around to keep up the appearance of order.

The local broadcast didn’t show then either because they were on Mandalore. But he enjoyed them. He’d told her that they were always free of conflict that hit him personally, and that it helped him see planets in a better light. She remembered that time he showed her footage of a chubby lizard that had a spiky beard that lived on Geonosis. She briefly wondered if he’d watch the documentaries with their child, but she quickly banished the thought. She hadn’t decided if she was going to keep it or not, and she knew she might not have a choice in that. Maybe the whole thing about their species not being compatible meant that any pregnancy would end with a miscarriage. Still, she had to tell him.

“Rex?” She asked from the doorframe “I need to talk to you. It’s important” she said. 

“What’s wrong cyare?” He said as he paused the documentary

There was no point in hesitating now. “I’m pregnant” she said

Rex was dead silent.

“You’re what?” He finally got out

“I’m pregnant”

He stared at her again.

“How?”

“Well, you know what we did during my last heat. There aren’t really any any other possibilities”

“Yeah, but we we’re not... we should visit the doctor about this” he said

“Yes, we should” she agreed

* * *

At the doctors office, they sat in awkward silence. He knew what the implications were behind that she had gotten pregnant when logically, it couldn’t be his. But he hadn’t been upset with her yet. He had no proof, and almost every other men she knew was human as well. So he knew it was very unlikely that she had cheated. She’d never do that. He did know that the prophecy of the chosen one hadn’t been fulfilled yet, and he was terrified that their child could be the Force’s second attempt. 

“Ashla Tano?” The doctor said and Ahsoka stood up. Rex followed her. The doctor was a human woman in her late 40’s with short, dark hair and glasses. 

“What’s the issue?” The doctor asked once the were inside the office. 

“I’m pregnant and I don’t know how that happened” Ashoka said

The doctor did not look amused, so Rex decided to add “Well, we know how it happened. But we thought we wouldn’t be able to have kids together” 

“Ah Yes, that’s a common misconception. Hybrids between humans and Togruta do exist, but they’re rare. Most of the time, polyspermy occurs because human sperm doesn’t trigger the cortical reaction of the egg. But there is a small chance that only one sperm finds the egg and then that usually leads to a regular pregnancy”

They both breathed a sigh of relief. 

But then Rex remembered. “Wait, but I still had a vasectomy”

“How old were you?” The doctor asked

“It was done immediately after I was born” he said

She frowned. “That’s not legal. How do you know this?” She asked and he froze. Ahsoka didn’t answer either. 

The doctor just looked at him. “Wait, you look familiar,” she finally said. “Are you a clone if I may ask?”

“No,” Rex lied. He didn’t want to get in trouble with the authorities. 

“Are you sure?” The doctor insisted “because it you were, we’d have to verify the age of the fetus to make sure it’s not growing at twice the speed. That could be dangerous for the mother. And I won’t be able to tell the empire. Patient confidentiality”

Rex briefly considered lying again, but he’d put Ahsoka at risk if he did. “Yes, I’m a clone”

“Okay. Do you happen to know how far along you are?” She said, turning to Ahsoka.

“Yes, almost six weeks” she said

“Okay, I’ll schedule you for an ultrasound and consultation at an actual OB/GYN tomorrow. Oh, and about the vasectomy. There is a chance the tubes grow back together afterwards. That chance becomes significantly larger on younger patients. So I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s what happened”

Rex let out a sigh of relief

“Thank you doctor” Ahsoka said

* * *

On the way back Rex relaxed again. “I’m glad it’s at least possible that it’s mine”

“Yeah, me too. There was no other possibility, but I know that would just sound like denial” she said.

It was then that he finally realized what she was implying.

“Wait, were you thinking I was afraid you’d cheated?”

“Of course I was. It would’ve made more sense then a one in a million chance of being able to conceive. Biologically speaking I mean.”

“No, it wouldn’t,” Rex said. “There are no male Togruta on the entire planet, and if me being humans would rule me out, it would rule out everyone else we know”

“That’s a good point,” she said. “So what were you afraid of if I may ask?

“To be honest? I thought the force would try to do that prophecy again”

Ahsoka snorted “Really? A reincarnation of Skyguy? That would’ve been terrible”

“Yeah, can you imagine how bad it would be to raise a tiny General Skywalker?” He said, chuckling into his fist

“I don’t have to imagine it. I’ve heard stories from Obi-Wan”

“Yeah, and General Kenobi wasn’t stressed and on the brink of insanity” Rex joked.

With the mood lightened, they went home.

* * *

That evening, Ahsoka and Rex curled up together in bed like they always did, with Rex behind her. 

“You know what, I’m actually happy about the pregnancy” Rex whispered in her montrals.  
“I don’t know if I’m ready, and I completely understand if you’re not ready, but I’m happy about it. I’d love to raise it together”

“Yeah, me too Rex. I’m not sure if I’m ready either, but I want to keep it if we can” she said. She felt him smile into her back lekku.

* * *

The next morning, Ahsoka was slightly nauseas. She got up to get breakfast, before she realized she didn’t feel like eating nerf at all. Weird, it was her favorite. She just grabbed a nuna filet and looked at the pan. Great, she’d have to use grease. Never mind then.

She sat down at the table, eating her raw nuna filet when Rex came in. He gave her a weird look.

“What? I’m hungry and I don’t feel like eating nerf. I‘m nauseous this morning”

Rex sighed “I didn’t think you’d start being nauseous this soon. But can you stop eating raw nuna? Salmonella poisoning won’t make you less nauseous”

“I’ll be fine. I’m a carnivore”

Rex just shrugged. He never really reacted when she took a risk like that. Not because he didn’t care, but because the things she did now weren’t nearly as bad as the risks she took during the clone wars. She smiled at him as she continued to eat the raw meat while he made his oatmeal. He just shook his head.

* * *

At the OB/GYN, they sat in the waiting room nervously.

“It’s going to be okay, Ashla” Rex said, switching to her fake name because they were in a public space. 

“I have that feeling too, but I’m still nervous” she said as he pressed a kiss to her montral.

A small human boy that played in the waiting room near his visibly pregnant mother made puking noises at them. His mother immediately shushed him. Rex smiled and looked at the kid and his mother interacting, and he suddenly realized that that could be him soon and that he should take mental notes about how she interacted with the small child. He looked to be around five he thought, 

“Can I help you with something?” The mother asked, seemingly annoyed. 

“No ma’am. I was just looking at how you interacted with your son because I hoped to learn something from it”

The woman’s expression softened at that. “First time parent?” She asked

“Not yet. But soon” he said, rubbing Ahsoka’s stomach affectionately 

“They’re a real handful, but so worth it” She said, smiling at her own, already distracted, kid. “The first one is always the hardest. How many are you planning?”

“Just one, at least for now” Ahsoka answered.

“Oh well, I’m sure you’ll be a great mother. The two of you look so happy together. Do you know if it’s going to be a boy or a girl?” She asked.

“I doubt you’d be able to tell at this point. It probably doesn’t even have arms or anything resembling a face. Though they do have a really obvious heartbeat” 

“How would you know? Where have you seen fetuses at that age?” The woman asked, bemused

Rex froze. He couldn’t really explain that he’d seen his really small brothers in their incubators. Not without giving away his identity.

Before he could come up with an excuse, the intercom called “Ashla Tano” and he and Ahsoka got up.

Once in the office, the doctor asked Ahsoka all kinds of questions and gave her a full physical exam similar to the one they always got in the GAR. Then came the time for the ultrasound. As soon as Ahsoka laid down on the table, the doctor put the gel on her stomach and got to work. 

“Let’s see... ah, there it is. It looks healthy, about six weeks old” the doctor said. Rex sighed in relief. It hadn’t inherited his rapid aging. They’d be able to keep their child.


	4. The Delivery

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The baby is born and named

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I tried not to go to into the horror here because usually, the idea of pregnancy scares me a bit (and surgery scares me a lot) There are still some complications, but it all ends well
> 
> Mandoa translations:  
> bavodu’e: aunts/uncles (completely gender neutral)

Ahsoka was exhausted. She hadn’t even done that much that day, but she was due any day now and the baby had been kicking a lot more often today. She had curled up with Rex on the couch to watch another documentary; this one was about feral Tookas. 

Just as she watched a mother teach her kittens how to hunt she felt another stab of pain in her back.

“Ugh, the baby keeps kicking,” she said. 

“Again? That’s how many times today?” Rex asked

“I don’t know.” she shrugged. “I lost count”

“Are you sure you’re not in labor already?” Rex asked.

“Probably not. They said it’d be the worst thing ever, but I’ve had worse. And I honestly feel better than before. I can breathe easier and I’ve had a bit more energy.”

“You can breathe easier? Wasn’t that a symptom that you’re in labor?” Rex asked 

“Now that you mentioned it, it does feel like the baby moved down. Maybe that whole “worst thing you ever felt” assumed I’ve never had a third degree burn from a lightsaber. Maybe we should get to the hospital just in case”

“Yeah, we should,” Rex said. He still looked calm and collected, but she knew him well enough to see that he was pretty nervous.

He turned off the holoprojector and picked her up to carry her too his speeder. He put her in the passenger seat and made his way to the hospital.

When they got there, she wasn’t feeling so well anymore. Now that she knew that the pain wasn’t just kicking she was nervous about giving birth. From that moment everything was a blur. She knew she was taking a lot of time once they got in the hospital and got really worried when the nurses pulled out an ultrasound machine to look at her stomach. The nurses were talking to her but she didn’t really hear what they were saying. She saw something being put in her IV and everything went black.

* * *

Rex sat outside the delivery room waiting. Ahsoka had been in labor for three more hours after they had arrived at the hospital before they found out she had been in obstructed labor and needed a Caesarean section. They had send him outside immediately after Ahsoka had been put under general anesthesia and now he was waiting. He was relatively calm. They had done this plenty of times back during the Clone Wars and he’d been in surgery himself often enough that he no longer worried about it. Still... The civilian hospital was different. More comfort was being offered. As caring as Kix was, he never summoned someone to just hold your hand for getting a shot. He’d probably have if it was possible and necessary, but still. Civilian hospitals were much more comfortable.

One of the nurses came out with a screeching bundle of blankets in her arms. She walked straight towards him. “It’s a girl,” she told him as she handed him the small child and a bottle of milk.

Rex couldn’t believe his eyes. There she was; wrapped inside a blanket in his arms. She looked small, way too pink for both of their skin colors, still covered in blood and that gross yellowish substance that his newly decanted brothers were covered in as well. She had a purple undertone to her skin.

“What species is this?” He asked dumbfounded. He had never seen anything like it.

“Well, she’s a hybrid. But she honestly looks mostly Togruta to me. She has human eyebrows and is probably going to have your skin color though,” the nurse said as Rex tried to feed her with the bottle. Luckily she latched on pretty quickly. 

“But she has no montrals, markings or lekku. How can you tell?” He asked

“By the lack of human ears, the lekku buds and the shape of the skull. It’s barely noticeable, but the montrals are right here. They’re placed a bit more to the back than usual. They don’t grow until after birth so they won’t get stuck. She got stuck anyway, since she has no fontanelles.”

Rex froze. He knew why she lacked fontanelles. All clones lacked them. There was no need for them with their jars and they were an inconvenience to the Kaminoans. The nurse sat down next to him.

“I know why, I’ve delivered another half clone before,” she said in a hushed voice. “He had the same issue”

“There’s another clone here on mandalore?” He asked

“Not as far as I know. This was on Coruscant. The father was unknown as well; it had been a one night stand. She just knew he was a clone from the 212th. I don’t know where they are now. Just that the child lived to be at least three months. I lost track of him since he didn’t fall under my profession anymore. I just wanted you to know what caused the issue.”

“Thank you ma’am,” he said.

He looked at his daughter again. She had calmed down and was looking straight at him. “Hello there,” he said. She didn’t really respond, but her face relaxed. She was no longer purple and he could now see that the top of her head was white and her skull had the tiniest montrals (they were barely noticeable)

“So, when is she gonna get her number?” He asked. The nurse just laughed.

“If I hadn’t known that you’re a clone, I’d know by now. You have to name her.”

“Can’t she name herself? I think she’d prefer that and I would as well”

“No, legally you can’t. She needs a name,” She said as she handed Rex the paperwork. “Though you can just use the names of family members and let her pick a nickname when she’s old enough. Now if you’ll excuse me; I have to check up on another patient.”

“Wait, what do I do if I don’t know which family member to name her after?” He asked the nurse

“You can give her two or three names if you want to. Or give her one or two middle names.” she said as she send him a holonet link from her datapad to the datapad she gave him to do the paperwork on. “This article should explain everything about how you should name your baby.”

“Thank you ma’am.” he said

“No problem. I just got the message that your wife has been stitched up. The two of you should be there when she wakes up”

Rex nodded and went back into the delivery room. Ahsoka was lying in her cot, still unconscious. He put their daughter on her chest and filled out the paperwork. He didn’t know which family member he wanted to name her after though. Part of him wanted to name her after his brother Cody, though he also felt like Fives deserved that honor a bit more since Fives had been the one who rescued both him and Ahsoka. But he also felt like he should name the little biter after General Skywalker since he had trained Ahsoka and saved both of their lives multiple times. Well... he was allowed to give her multiple first names, so he put all three names down. Anakin Cody Fives Tano. That’s a good name.

* * *

Ahsoka woke up from the anesthesia with a heavy feeling on her chest. When she looked down she noticed a small infant on her chest. Then she remembered what she was under anesthesia for. She tried to get up, but she suddenly felt pain in her lower abdomen.

“Easy cyare,” Rex said. “You’ve been through a lot. They had to cut through the muscles”

He pushed a button on the side of her bed and the bed moved to the half sitting position. She put her arms around the baby to prevent her from falling down. The baby didn’t really react to it, probably because she was still dazed from the whole experience, but she looked at her mother with no particular expression 

The small child looked mostly Togruta but she had human eyebrows and the same chubbiness human infants had.

“Did she open her eyes yet?” She asked Rex.

“Yeah she did. They were blue, just like yours,” he said as he kissed the top of her head. “Though they have a greenish undertone” 

“Okay. It’s also proof that it’s yours. Togruta babies don’t open their eyes until they’re two months old. Besides, her eyes are just like yours except for the color”

“I hadn’t noticed that. She does have my eyebrows though,” he said with a smile

“What do you want to name her?” She asked

“I already named her while you were asleep,” He admitted

“What? Why didn’t you wait for me to wake up?” She asked

“I knew I had to name her as soon as possible so I did that before we got in trouble. I didn’t want them to figure out where I came from. One of the nurses could tell and I don’t want any trouble. I named her after her bavodu'e so she can pick her own name when she’s old enough.”

“Rex, she don’t have any female bavodu'e. And with “soon” they meant “within three days.” What did you name her?”

“Does the gender of her bavodu’e matter?” He asked. He looked genuinely surprised

“Yes, there are masculine and feminine names. Please tell me what you named her.”

“Anakin Cody Fives Tano. It felt like the right thing to do. Sorry for naming her in a hurry instead of asking you.”

“Thank the f- little gods that isn’t as bad as I expected. We’ll just shorten it to Anna to avoid suspicion and she’ll be allowed to pick her own name when she’s ready.”

“Did you have another idea for a name?”

“No. To be honest I also wanted her to pick her own name. I wanted to check the list of most common Mandalorian names for inspiration, but Anna works well too”

“Okay. I’m glad that it’s not a big deal. At least she’s alive now and safe” Rex said

“Yeah. We should probably ask the nurses for some advice on how to keep her alive,” Ahsoka said as she let the small child hold her finger.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope this chapter was good enough. Like I said, I’m usually not good at this subject so I hope I wrote it well enough. Please leaves kudos and/or comments to let me know if you enjoyed it


	5. Marked

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anna’s facial markings start to show and Bo-Katan warns about the inquisitors

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I’m late, I worked through the head start I had on this fic and I’m now writing the chapters as I go. I didn’t get this one beta read yet so I might replace this with the spelling corrected one later
> 
> Sorry if it’s a little short, I’m bad at writing children

Rex woke up way too early to the sound of a crying infant. Anna was usually not that much of a crier unless she was hungry. He got up immediately before Ahsoka woke up. The fact that she wasn’t awake yet meant that she was too exhausted already. And she needed her sleep more then he did. Her stitches had almost healed by now, but she was still very tired due to the fact that she was breastfeeding and was still on pain killers.

He took his daughter in his arms as he walked towards the kitchen where he put a bottle of formula in the microwave. Even though she was breastfed, she still needed formula since she was mostly omnivorous. When it was done, he gave her the bottle and she drank as fast she could, spilling some formula on her face. He just let her drink, he could clean her face later and she’d get fuzzy if he stopped feeding her now.

He looked at his datapad. Bo-Katan was coming over today to meet the newest addition to House Kryze. He had gotten a bit more comfortable with visitors, but he still usually didn’t know what to do when he had guests over. Luckily, Bo-Katan was practical and knew that he wasn’t used to civilian matters. So she never pushed him to be a good host.

But that was at 15:00, and now it was 6:43, and Anna had just finished her formula so Rex put the bottle away and cleaned her face with a paper towel. There were some spots on her face that didn’t come off. He rubbed her face again. The white spots didn’t come off. Then, he realized they were symmetrical. He turned on the kitchen light and saw that her marking were starting to grow in. She had four white diamonds on her face, two between her temples and eyebrows and two on her cheeks. The white spot an her scalp was also crouching down

He knew Ahsoka had spots like that when she was younger (Wolffe had shown him a picture of her with General Plo when she had been just an toddler) but the ones at the side of her face were unfamiliar. He had assumed she’d have identical markings to her mother since he didn’t have any, but apparently they were random or she still inherited them from him. He know most species carried recessive traits that would only show in hybrids based on Cut and Suu’s daughter. She had inherited her blue skin from her late biological father, who had been a human.

He carried his baby back to the bedroom were Ahsoka was starting to wake up. He climbed back into the bed and put his child on her mother.

“Good morning, Cyare” he said as he kissed her forehead.

“Morning” She said.

“Anna’s markings are starting to show”

Ahsoka looked at her daughter. “You’re right, and they’re not like mine. That’s interesting”

“When will her Lekku makings start to show?” He asked her

“Mine started to show when I was one, but I was early. It’s not unheard of for them to show at four, and they’ll probably be just a few spots”

“Well, at least we’ll have something to show to Bo-Katan when she get here” Rex said.

“Yeah, she should probably take a nap before then though,” Ahsoka said as she put the already sleepy infant back in her crib.

* * *

When Bo-Katan showed up, she immediately wanted to see Anna. Ahsoka gladly let Bo-Katan hold the small infant. After she was done fawning over her youngest “niece”, she handed Anna back to Ahsoka and they all went outside to enjoy the summer weather.

As they sat in the garden and talked about life in general, a green convor landed in Ahsoka’s arms and nuzzled close to Anna.

“What a peculiar bird,” Bo-Katan commented “is she yours?”

“No, she’s wild. But she seems to like us. She doesn’t seem to be aggressive at all and let’s us pet her” she said as she scratched the back of Morai’s head. 

“Convors aren’t native to Mandalore though. It must be an escaped pet” Bo-Katan said

“She doesn’t like me nearly as much as she likes Ahsoka and apparently Anna” Rex shrugged.

“Maybe her previous owners were Togruta?” Bo-Katan offered

“Unlikely” Rex said. “I think it might be beaus of... you know” he said as he pretended to use the force to lift something. 

“I hope she’s not, for her sake.” Bo-Katan said. When Ahsoka shot her a worried look, she explained “There have been rumor of imperial agents going after force sensitive younglings. The ones that were known by the Jedi order were all taken, and every time a child is discovered to be force sensitive they are taken by the empire and never seen again. The parents disappear too if they object. Keep her hidden. I don’t know what the empire does to them, but it can’t be good”

“Thanks for the warning,” Rex said. “I didn’t think they’d acknowledge force sensitivity, since they’re so bound on erasing the Jedi from memory”

“They’re trying to do it quietly” Bo-Katan said. “Physicians test for force sensitivity, but I can get you the falsified documents you’ll need to prove that she’s not force sensitive. I will need to know her blood type though”

“She’d A+, like me” Rex said

“Which is one of the few things that gives away that she’s not a full Togruta.” Ahsoka said. “We Only have B, E, BE and O. I’m E-, so even if we tried to have another kid it would be hard. We’ll just keep it at one” Ahsoka added

“Yeah. And she’s already more then a handfull” Rex said. “I don’t know how the Kaminoans dealt with all of us”

“You were there.” Bo-Katan said. “Wouldn’t you know?” 

“They gave us younger clones to babysit on our rest days, but we don’t know much about how the babies spend the rest of their time. And I don’t remember being that young myself because of the accelerated aging” he shrugged

“No one does, it’s not your aging. But it explains why you’re so good with her” Ahsoka said.

“Is it possible that there’s a cure for it? I doubt you want to age that fast” Bo-Katan asked.

“Maybe, but if there is the Kaminoans have it. And I doubt they’d be willing to give it to a defective clone like me” he said

“Rex, you’re perfect the way you are” Ahsoka said. “I love you, accelerated aging and all”

“Thanks cyare, I love you too. But the Kaminoans disagree, I technically committed treason, which is against my programming. And the cloning program is cancelled, they won’t help. It’s best to make the best of the approximately 20 years I have left. And there is no way I’d rather spend the rest of my life than with the both of you”

Ahsoka could feel her lekku darken at that. “If you keep it up, I might have to take advantage of the fact that you’re finally legal now” 

“Can you two can it?” Bo-Katan said. “I’ve come here to escape the responsibilities that come with being the Mand'alor, and I do not want to hear... this” she waved her hands in an annoyed gesture. Rex and Ahsoka laughed but decided to can it. For her sake.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mandoa translations:  
> Cyare: beloved  
> Mand’alor: sole ruler, mandalore’s ruler


	6. The Training

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anna is now eight years old and starts to show an interest in weapons.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry if this chapter is kinda short. I’m not really good with writing an eight year old since I don’t remember being one and I don’t know any children that are that age. Also I’m from Europe and we had a massive heatwave. My country surpassed 40 degrees Celsius for the first time. Not liking the climate change :(
> 
> Oh and Rex is also noticeable older here. He still keeps his head bald and has a full beard, but he’s biologically 48 at this point and it’s starting to get gray near the sides

Anna looked at the piece of metal. It was small, almost shaped like a blaster. She grabbed it and held it like it was, pointed downwards like her dad usually did. She ran toward the shooting range in the garden and aimed it at the target, pretending like the metal was an actual blaster. 

“Pew pew,” she said as she pretended like she was fighting monstrous droids like daddy used to do during the clone wars. As she was running, suddenly ran into her father at full speed. 

“Oh, hi dad” she said.

“Hi, little one. What were you doing?” Her father said. 

“Just playing with some metal” she said, showing her father the scrap she had used as a pretend blaster.

“Okay. Do you want to learn how to shoot with a real blaster?”

“Yes!” She said excitedly

“Okay. Well, the first thing you’d need to learn is blaster safety. I saw you keep it pointed downwards while running. That’s good. I’ll walk you to the basics of my DC-17 and then we’ll start” 

“Yes, Thanks dad” she said as she hugged her father

* * *

When Ahsoka came back from the workshop, still covered in grease and motor oil, she heard blaster shots coming from the garden. She immediately grabbed her lightsabers from the cupboard near the door and ran towards the garden, lightsabers in hand but not ignited yet. 

When she got there, she saw Rex teach their daughter how to use a blaster. She was holding the DC-17 with both hands, aiming at the target they had set up.

“What are you doing here?” She asked

“Oh, hey cyare. I uhm...”

“Were you teaching her how to use a blaster?” She asked with a raised eye marking.

“Possibly,” Rex said. “I mean, maybe?”

“It’s definitely not like the secret light saber lessons you give me, mom”

She fell silent and looked at her daughter and then at her husband.

And then both she and Rex laughed.

* * *

A few days later, Rex was holding Ahsoka’s lightsaber while Anna had the shoto. He was nervous. He had never held a lightsaber before. Well, he had. But not like this. He ignited the blade. It hummed to life in his hands. He hadn’t actually seen it in action since the clone wars and having it in his own hands was weird. He moved the blade around in the air, giving it a few test swings. Ahsoka had been right, it did feel different from the sticks he had learned to fight with. It had no weight, but it had a significant amount of air resistance that made an audible buzz when he moved the blade fast enough.

Anna, on the other hand, looked more than ready to take him. She was quite intimidating for and eight year old. Her eyebrows were furrowed and so were the white markings underneath them, which had started to turn down around her eyes similar to the markings jaigs had around their eyes. The white of her montrals had crept down on her forehead in a pointed fashion and her cheek markings were similar to Ahsoka’s. Her short lekku had started to show golden spots. She had a feral snarl on her face, similar to her mother’s but much more intense. Probably because she was raised on Mandalore and not in the Jedi temple. She had the shoto raised in his direction, ready to block or attack if he didn’t.

She attacked first. He moved to deflect instinctively, using the stick fighting techniques that had been drilled into him at a young age, but she was already much faster than him. He had always known she was force sensitive, but to feel it in action was different. He backed away as she swung the shoto at him. He still should’ve had an advantage, he was two head taller (or one it you took Ahsoka’s) and twice her weight, but the speed she had was astonishing. His back hit the fence of his garden. She lifted her saber, but just as she was about to strike it switched of on its own and she swung just the hilt.

“Anna, be more careful” Ahsoka scolded as she summoned both sabers back to herself. “You could’ve really hurt him. You should be more careful. Light sabers are dangerous”

“I know mom. Sorry, I got carried away”

“That’s okay, just make sure you get it right next time. It’s important to control yourself.” Her mother said.

“Yeah, I know how easy it is to use frustration as fuel for combat,” her father added, “but using to much may cause you to lose control. Your anger should never control you, you should control your anger. That’s how you can use it to your advantage without burning yourself out”

Anna just nodded. She wasn’t sure why her father was talking about anger, but she had a feeling it would be useful someday.

“Can I practice lifting now?” She asked.

“Of course sweetie, let’s go inside” her mother said as she took Anna inside. Why they always did it inside, Anna didn’t know. But she didn’t question it. Her parents told her that it was important that the force was kept secret, and she swore to keep it a secret for as long as she had to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, sorry that it’s kinda short. I hope you guys still liked it though


	7. The Jaig Eyes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> One of Anna’s classmates is targeted by an inquisitor, and Anna is the only one vaguely prepared.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anna is 12 now and it’s 4BBY here. So that would be basically season 2 of rebels

Anna was sitting in class drawing while the teacher dragged on about the Mandalorian civil war. Mandalorian history was quite boring, even if most people tended to believe otherwise. I was mostly just one war after another, and there were too many wars. They all blurred together in her mind and she couldn’t remember which clan was which, especially since some clans changed names due to fusing with another clan, starting a new one, splitting up, clans becoming houses. She’d just ask Fenn, he had always been good with history and he was much better at explaining then the teacher. She usually helped him with blaster mechanics so he owed her a favor anyway.

When she looked up to pretend to be paying attention, she saw that the teacher was talking on her commlink. Odd. The teacher ended the call.

“Alright class, there is a surprise physical test. To the gym, line up in formation once there!” The teacher ordered. 

They all went to the gym without any questions. This happened often, schools often focused on the physical health of their students since most of them became warriors when they grew up. Once there, they noticed a woman standing there in a dark suit with a strange helmet.

“Hello, children,” the woman said, with a voice that gave Anna the chills. “I am the Seventh sister, and I’m here on behalf of imperial recruitement. I have to have a talk with Fenn Otan”

Anna watched as Fenn stepped forward and stood in parade rest.

“Fenn. It’s so nice to meet you. I’m here to talk to you about a military project that might interest you. Come with me. The rest of you are dismissed and you can go home”

Anna watched as Fenn walked with the woman. Something was odd about her. She decided to hide her force signature completely and follow them.

When they got to separate room in one of the lesser uses buildings, she put her montral to the door.

“Your performance is extraordinary, Otan. According to your PE teacher, your reflexes are amazing and you’re extremely fast. I would like to ask you to join my military division as a new recruit.”

“What branch is it?” Anna’s friend asked.

“The inquisitorius. We’re a covert branch, focused on eliminating the remaining Jedi”

Anna winched. Auntie Bo-Katan has warned her about the inquisition when she was younger. She had learned to not draw on the force at all if she was doing normal training for this reason, and she was always shielding. Her parents also made sure to train her in mind tricks rigorously. She was even able to mind trick her parents now, even though they were both trained to resist them from a young age. But she hadn’t paid attention to any of her classmates possibly being force sensitive as well. And now Fenn might be taken away by the inquisitors. 

“No thanks,” Fenn said, ever so polite. “I’d prefer to enlist at the flight academy”

“Okay, well in that case...”

Anna heard the sound of a lightsaber igniting and Fenn stumbling back. Her mind was racing. She was unarmed, and smaller than her opponents. She only had the element of surprise on her side. She had to get a weapon as fast as possible.

“What are you doing?” Fenn asked.

“If you don’t join us, I’m going to kill you. We cannot allow someone force sensitive to live and not serve our glorious empire” she said. Anna could feel her intent. It was cold, but simultaneously burned with anger and focus

Anna opened the door a little. Neither force signature seemed to notice her, the inquisitor was too focused and Fenn was too scared. She baited her time, using her senses to wait for the right moment to strike

“Force sensitive?” Fenn stuttered.

“Yes, why did you think you were given a blood test by your school?” The seventh sister asked

“For allergy screening?” The young boy stammered

“No. Now, what will you choose? The empire, or death?”

Anna sensed the moment was right. She opened herself to the force and pulled the raised saber towards her as she came out from behind the door. The seventh sister looked at her in shock, but quickly regained her composure.

“Another one. Good. My master will be more than pleased.”

“I don’t think so” Anna said, holding the lit lightsaber in front of her 

The inquisitor just pulled her lightsaber towards her.

Anna didn’t resist, but held on to the lightsaber with all her might.

She was dragged across the floor until she was in front of the inquisitor. Immediately when she noticed that the inquisitor was in range, she plunged the blade into the other woman’s chest. The inquisitor looked at her in terror before her eyes went blank and her limp body crumpled to the floor

Fenn started crying. Anna turned the saber off and hugged her friend. “You’re safe now”

“Why did you kill her?” He sobbed

“I had to. She was an inquisitor, she would’ve killed you if I hadn’t done that” Anna explained in a calm tone. 

“A what? And why would she kill me?”

“And inquisitor. They’re special agents that hunt down any remaining Jedi and those with the potential to become Jedi”

“How would you know?” He asked

“Long story, I’ll tell you while we wait for my aunt. She’ll fix this mess” Anna said.

Fenn shot her a confused look but she ignored him and called Aunt Bo-Katan. She was send straight to voice mail, as she expected. 

“Hey aunt? It’s me, Anna. It happened. Not to me but to a friend. I managed to uhm... deal with the threat. I need your help as soon as possible. Bye”

Fenn just stared at her. “What if the police shows up?”

“They will, but trust me. I got this under control”

Fenn shook his head but stayed put, unsure of what else to do.

* * *

When the police showed up, Fenn was still shaking but he had stopped crying. Anna had been rubbing his back in an attempt to calm him down.

They searched the parameter for evidence of more inquisitors and found none. After both children were questioned they were put in police speeders and escorted to the Sundari palace. Once there, they were brought before Bo-Katan. Fenne was visibly scared now.

“Leave us alone,” Bo-Katan ordered her men. They nodded and left the case with evidence behind.

“How are you?” Bo-Katan asked Anna.

“I’m doing okay. Fenn here is still upset over the whole ordeal though. I can’t blame him, he didn’t know anything in advance” Anna said.

Bo-Katan knelt down in front of Fenn. “How are you holding up now?”

“Doing a little better. Anna said that the inquisitor was after me because I could’ve been a Jedi” He said, still not sure how to deal with the fact that the Mand’alor herself was talking to him. 

“It’s gonna he okay now. Your parents are here. I’ll summon one of the guards to escort you to them”

The boy nodded and followed the guards outside of the room. 

“Anna, that was incredibly brave of you. I think you’ve finally earned those jail eyes on your face. You really do take after your father’

“Wait, he has Jaig eyes?” She asked

“He never told you?” Her aunt asked. “He had Jaig eyes during the entire clone wars. You should ask him about it when you show him this” she said as she handed her unofficial niece the certificate and a bag of something that sounded like metallic parts.

* * *

When she got home, her parents were sitting at the dinner table.

“You’re late” her father said sternly

“Sorry dad. I had a long day at school. An inquisitor tried to kill my friend Fenn so I had to kill the inquisitor and then I got awarded Jaig eyes” she said

“Very funny.” Her father scuffed. “Now. What actually happened? Why didn’t you tell us you were going to be late? Your mother and I were worried sick”

She didn’t respond. She just put the certificate on the table. her mother looked at it and then at her. “Wait, this is an actual certificate. You weren’t making that stuff up. I’m so proud of you, Anna”

“Actually, I’ve been thinking. I kinda like the name Jaig. Do you think it fits?”

“If you think it does” her father said. “You already know that we always wanted you to pick your own name, like my brothers and I used to do”

“Okay. Them I think I’ll name myself Jaig. It feels right.”

“We’re proud of you” her mother said.

“Did I ever tell you about how I earned my Jaig eyes?” Her father asked

“No, you didn’t even tell me you have them” she said bluntly. 

“I didn’t? I’m sorry for accidentally hiding it from you. But I wore them on my old armor during the entire clone wars. People started to recognize me by them, which I couldn’t risk after... well, you know what I mean” he said

Jaig just nodded. Her father had told her about how he fought in the clone wars and how they ended, and how he had to go into hiding with her mother.

Her father pulled out a datapad and showed her a picture of what she assumed was him and three other clones.

“Who are they?” She asked.

“The guy in orange is Cody. He was my batchmate and one of the best Commanders we had in the GAR. We named you after him”

“So that’s where my name came from. Are Anakin and Fives in this picture as well?”

Her father chuckled. “Yes and no. This guy with the striped Kama and Rishi Eel on his armor is Fives. He was a shiny when I met him, but he quickly became one of the smartest ARC troopers in the entire GAR. He found out about the chips and warned me just in time. He was killed by Commander Fox for what he knew though, on orders from the man who is now emperor”

She noticed that her fathered mood had darkened at that. “And what about Anakin? Who is, or was, he?”

“He was my master when I was still a Jedi. He was the closest I had to an older brother, though your father’s brothers were a close second. He died during the execution of order 66 as far as I can tell.” Her mother said.

“And he was my general. I got my Jaig eyes for telling him to get medical attention. Apparently he considered standing up to a superior officer like that  
to be exceptionally brave. I didn’t understand at the time, but he turned out to just be like that. He wasn’t one for following orders and he didn’t expect us to follow orders if we really didn’t want to. Orders were advice to him. He was a great strategist though, although he was reckless”

Jaig listened to her parents stories intently. She had a feeling that she could learn something from her stories.

“And who’s this?” She asked.

“That’s Echo, Fives’ batchmate” her father said. “He was a bit of a reg nerd but he was a pretty promising ARC trooper. Sadly, he died pretty early. Just after his promotion to ARC trooper. Or at least, we thought. After we lost fives, we found him again. He had lost several limbs and had been tortured for over two years when we found him back, but he made a full recovery somehow. We later lost him here on Mandalore. If you want to we can visit his grave sometime and show you around the old campsite”

“I’d love to someday, but not today. Today has been exhausting and I think I need to rest now” she admitted

“Yeah, it’s getting pretty late. But you should have some dinner first” her mother said. 

Jaig nodded and started grabbing the plates.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that’s how Jaig for her name. Please leave kudos and comments. It really helps to motivate me to write more. Though this fic is starting to end now. But this was basically meant as a prequel to a fic I actually wanted to write about Jaig. Please tell me what you think of her so far?


	8. Murder and Abduction

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jaig has finds out something horrible has happened and sets out to fix what she can

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... this is were the sadness begins. I apologize in advance. The only good news I have is that the sequel will be a lot less sad if that helps?

Jaig opened her eyes. The morning lights in the dome were shining through her window. She looked at the shiny new armor that was standing on an armor rack in the corner of her room. She had gotten it for her birthday a week ago, and it was still unpainted. Her father had made it himself from scratch. He had even created the beskar himself and her mother had done the electronics (a copy of the ones used in phase II clone armor, since that design had proven itself over and over during the clone wars).

However, the most impressive part was the hidden compartment on the back. It was disguised as a standard jet pack attachment plate, but it had two secret compartments where she kept the lightsabers she had crafted with her mother’s help. The blades were pure white, though the sabers themself were as plain as possible to avoid suspicion. She had built them with her mother from the parts of the Inquisitors lightsaber and new beskar shafts her father had made. They could both slide in the back of her armor and be ejected out with buttons on the inside of her armor that she could only reach with the force. 

She had owned similar armor before, so she was used to it. But it hadn’t been actual beskar, not did it have the electronics her permanent set had. Traditionally, it was only given to people who were at least 16. That wasn’t just a tradition, beskar was very hard to resize and the resizing process was expensive and could only be done by a highly qualified blacksmith like her father. It’s one of the reasons they could afford to live in a big house with an even bigger garden.

She got out of bed and put the armor on. It was still plain, but she had a turquoise bodyglove under it. Her favorite color. She was going to costumize it later this day, but she was still wearing it to school to show off that she had armor. Most kids didn’t get their until they were older because traditionally, they were passed down and had to be reforged to fit. But she had a brand new set. She put it on and went downstairs.

“Good morning” her mother said. Her father just nodded at her, drinking his morning caf. 

“Morning mom. Morning dad.” She said as she grabbed cereal from the cupboard and blue milk from the refrigerator. 

“Anything special at school today?” Her mother asked. 

“It’s only a short day, but I’m going over to Marina’s place this afternoon”

“Sounds wonderful” Her mother said.

They are their breakfast in comfortable silence.

“Doesn’t Marina live in a different city?” Her father asked, finally ready to talk after he had his caf

“Yeah, she does. Luckily I can ride a speederbike now”

“That’s fair. Just be careful” he told her as she put away her cereal bowl. “I’ve seen too many of them explode to be comfortable around them.

“That’s just because of you, cyare” Her mother teased “and that’s why you’re not a mechanic”

“I don’t care, I’m one of the best blacksmiths on mandalore by now.” He teased back.

Jaig rolled her eyes at her parents’ banter.

“Well, I’m off to school. Bye mom, bye dad. Love ya!”

“We love you to” her parents said in unison as she closed the door behind her

* * *

When she exited the Dome in which Marina’s city was, she has an uneasy feeling that she couldn’t place. She decided to take the short route home, over the old military camp. It was off limits to civilians, but she didn’t care and she had family who had died there. A lot of uncles. She never knew them, but she usually made a habit to swing by Echo’s grave every time she was there. He was the only uncle buried there that she knew enough about for the name on the headstone to have meaning. On paper, Echo and the other clones weren’t her uncles. But she still felt like they were, because she shared the same blood with them. She had never seen anyone actively guard the old war zone anyway.

There were some signs that warned about ammunition and detonators that might be lying around or buried just under the dirt, but those were common on mandalore anyway. She turned on the metal detector on her HUD before going into the camp. It was stronger then usual, and she started to suspect that this was actually the one that was in her father’s helmet. If it was he hadn’t told her. But it would be a very personal gift, and her father never liked making a big deal.

The detector started showing outlines on some of the rusty supplies that were still there. A blaster in the dirt was labeled DC-15A by her HUD. she was sure it was her fathers old HUD by now. She wasn’t sure where the other electronics had come from now, but she suspected that they might’ve all come from her father’s armor.

She sped through the old military base, past a large burn mark and a watch tower. She stopped near the graveyard and walked the last few meters towards the grave. It wasn’t a very interesting grave. Just a piece of metal with Echo’s name carved into it in Aurebesh. But this time, she noticed something new. Her metal detector showed the outline of a prosthetic arm and two prosthetic legs under the ground, inside the armor that Echo was buried in. She knew about the prosthetics, she had heard his story. But seeing them show up on her HUD was a new experience.

“I'm still alive, but you are dead. I remember you, so you are eternal” she said to the grave. She wasn’t sure if it was her place to remember him, but she knew very few other people remembered him. The rest of his battalion had been send back to the newly formed empire after the siege, and of any of them had defected she didn’t know if they were still alive and were. She suspected that most of them were killed in combat while serving the empire or were euthanized due to injuries or “incorrect” behavior. She tried not to thinks about it too much, especially since thinking about it now gave her a sinking feeling in her stomach. She got on her speeder and went home

* * *

When she got home, she immediately knew something was off. The door was wide open and her parents were no were to be seen. The neighbors houses had their windows closed and their front garden showed signs of a struggle. Her blood ran cold as she sprinted inside. Their hallway was a mess, and there were burns from blasters there. Her parents were no where to be found.

She reached out with the force to her mother, but she couldn’t feel her. She was gone. Jaig panicked and reached out for her father with a warning. He was still alive, but unconscious. She pushed down her feelings about finding out her mother was dead, and forced down any thoughts about locating her body. If her mom found out that she had endangered her father by not coming to his rescue immediately, she would be extremely upset with her even from the other side of the force.

She searched the house for anything she had to take with her. Her mother’s lightsabers were still in the safe, as she had expected. So were her fathers blasters. She cursed. They had been unarmed at the time of the attack. She grabbed all four weapons and attached them to the for blaster hooks on her armor. She knew she couldn’t openly carry lightsabersas safely as she did with blasters, but she had to risk it. She grabbed her own blasters again and ran upstairs to check all the rooms for anything. She had to make sure the house wouldn’t burn down due to electronics that were malfunctioning.

When she entered her fathers workshop, she saw his old armor there. It looked like an empty shell in more ways than one. She could tell that the sensors hat been taken out, since all the hatches were open and she couldn’t see any electronics inside of it. Now she was sure her parents had used the electronics from her father’s armor. The only thing still untouched were the utility belt, Kama and command wing. She grabbed the utility belt and Kama. The command wing would be useless and prevent her from pulling out her sabers, but the Kama could hide her parents’ weapons and the utility belt was necessary to put the Kama on. She put her own blasters in the Kama’s holsters. They were entirely costum made by her father, but they were similar enough to a DC-17 to fit. Most people couldn’t tell the difference unless they saw the bright red blaster bolts.

She looked at the armor one last time and moved to the next room. When she saw that it was safe, she turned around to leave. That was when her commlink went off. She opened the message immediately. It was from Bo-Katan.

“Dear Jaig, I have bad news. Your parents were attacked by bounty hunters. Your mother was killed instantly and your father is being transported to the Lothal Imperial Academy to train cadets. The bounty hunters turned him in. They knew he was a clone. Sorry for being so brief. There’s a ship in hangar 12A at the east gate prepped for you. Best wishes, Bo-Katan”

She didn’t hesitate a second before getting back on her speeder and making for the east gate.

* * *

When she arrived there, the guards seemed to know she was coming and let her on the ship right away. She pulled up as fast as she could, breaking through Mandalore’s atmosphere. She programmed the nav computer to set course for Lothal. It would be a long journey, so she immediately activated the hyperdrive and sat back. The automatic pilot would take over from here. She had time to mourn and get her feelings back in place before she had to focus on getting her father out of that academy. And she’d do exactly that. And afterwards, she’d take revenge on the bounty hunters that killed her mother.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading :)


	9. A Reunion and a farewell

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rex is captured by the empire and is forced to go back in the army

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Time for more sadness. I originally didn’t plan on writing this out and just mentioning it in flashback, but then Na gave me an idea in the comments so I kind of went with it. So Cody is here now.

Rex opened his eyes and found himself looking at the bland, durasteel ceiling of his cell on the Imperial-Class Star Destroyer. It hadn’t just been a bad dream as he had hoped. He sat up and put his face in his hands. They had forced him to shave his face, so it felt weird without the beard he had gotten used to over the past 19 years. Another grim reminder of what happened yesterday.

Had it only been a little under 24 hours when he had been eating breakfast with his wife and watched his daughter leave for school? Logically, he knew it was. About an hour after Jaig had left, a bounty hunter showed up at their door. Ahsoka had opened it, and the bounty hunter had asked her about the clone that was living there. Ahsoka had denied knowing about a clone being there, and the bounty hunters had gotten aggressive. They had pretty much shot to kill immediately. He had tried to run to the blaster safe in the hallway, but he had been wrestled to the ground by four other bounty hunters. He hadn’t even gotten the chance to fight them off before he was stunned and dragged into their speeder.

After that, he had been turned in to the empire. They had tried to reactivate his inhibitor chip to make him more obedient when he woke up, and he had played along. They fell for his charade of an obedient soldier. Probably because he was good at it. That’s what he had been for the Republic that he had truly believed in, but that wasn’t him anymore. He had managed to drop almost all military habits he had and had grown to like civilian life, and he hadn’t wanted to go back. But he didn’t have a choice. He knew Jaig was still alive, and if she tried to break him out while he wasn’t there she’d risk her life for nothing. He had to be here so they could escape together: and until then, he had a part to play. Hopefully he played it well enough for the empire to drop their guard.

He was taken out of his thoughts by a knock on the door. He groaned and started kitting up immediately. The armor laid out for him was shiny, white and ugly. The plastoid felt cheap and fragile, and he already hated it. It clipped on the same way as clone armor, but it was a poor fit. He had expected that a bit, but he was unprepared for how shitty the armor truly was.It was mass produced and made for natural born humans who tended to vary in measurements. But instead of resizing like he did on Mandalore for a living, they made a very ill fitting one-size-fits-all armor. He hated it already.

Once he had finished putting it on, he opened the door to see a storm trooper standing there. He looked just like any other storm trooper, but he didn’t move at all.

“What do you want, sir?” Rex asked, cringing at how bad that must sound. Military jargon just didn’t come naturally anymore.

“Rex, is that really you?” A familiar voice asked. He just stared at the trooper and said “yes”. The trooper took off his helmet and revealed his face.

“Cody?” Rex asked, shook.

Cody didn’t answer, but instead he stepped inside Rex’s cell and closed the door. Then, he pulled Rex into a hug and pushed his forehead against his. “You’re back” he choked out

Rex put his arms around his brother in return. He still hadn’t processed all the feelings he had about the situation as a whole, but he was glad to see him again.

“Where were you? I thought you died on Mandalore” Cody said. 

Rex removed his forehead from Cody’s and put his face to the side of his. “I’ll tell you if no one is listening” he whispered in his ear. 

“No one is. I turned off surveillance for this section. It won’t be suspicious, most of our visits to prisoners are supposed to be off records.” 

Rex nodded and let go of Cody. They both sat down on Rex’s bed.

“When order 66 came down, I couldn’t bring myself to kill Ahsoka”

“You mean Commander Tano?”

“Yeah, but she wouldn’t let me call her Commander since then”

“Rex, the Jedi betrayed the Republic. Did you really let a traitor live?” 

“Cody, Ahsoka wasn’t a traitor. She couldn’t have been part of that coup, she wasn’t even a Jedi”

“She was guilty by association” Cody argued

“Possibly. But she had saved my life thousands of times. It would be dishonorable to kill her after all she’s done for me”

“You have a point there. What happened then? How did you let her get away? You didn’t fight our brothers, did you?” Cody asked in a worried tone

“No, I just told Bo-Katan what was happening and got out with Ahsoka before they found her. Bo-Katan made up a story about how I had killed her and had been fatally wounded during the attack. I’ve stayed on mandalore ever since. Fell in love. Got married. I have a daughter now.”

“You should introduce me to your wife someday. I’d love to meet her” Cody said

Rex was flung back into reality instantly by his brothers words and he started crying. Cody quickly put his arms around Rex again.

“Ahsoka was killed when I was captured. She died protecting me, Cody” he sobbed.

He could feel Cody tense at the realization that he married his Commanding Officer but Cody quickly relaxed.

“I always knew you had a thing for her. I’m glad she felt the same way, and I’m sorry for your loss”

“Thanks, Cody” Rex said, calming down a little.

The brothers sat in silence for a while, before Cody broke it

“Tell me about your daughter” he asked

“Her name is Jaig, and she’s one of the bravest people I met. And one of the most stubborn, like her mother.”

“Did you name her after your Jaig eyes?”

“No. She fought an inquisitor when she was twelve to save a classmate from the empire and earned her own Jaig eyes for that, and then she changed her name”

“What was her name at first?”

“I named her after General Skywalker, you and Fives. Two of my favorite brothers, and the closest her mother had to a brother. She’s probably going to try and bust me out when we land. Please Cody, let us escape. And come with us. You deserve better than how the empire is treating you” Rex said, fully aware that the empire let most of his brothers die for minor infractions, to save on medical costs or just to replace them with a birth-born recruit faster.

“I don’t know Rex. I’d be leaving behind everything I ever knew. It’s a tough decision to make. I want to get out, but I don’t think I can. I’d be lost out there”

“Jaig and I will help you”

Cody got up to leave. “Thanks for the offer, Rex. I’ll consider it. But I need some time, and Jaig won’t be able to bust you out in the next few days anyway. Unless she can pull this Star Destroyer out of hyperspace.”

He walked towards the door, and before opening it he turned around and said “Just be a good soldier until then. If you’re not, you won’t be around for Jaig to bust you out. And that’s not a threat, it’s a warning”

“Thank you, Cody” Rex said as Cody opened the door to let him out. With Cody at his side, he at least could make it through the first few weeks.

* * *

On her ship, Jaig spend most of her time alternating between doing all kinds of drills, looking up information on the holonet about the Imperial Academy on Lothal and meditating to let go of her grief about her mother. She knew there were more clones teaching at that academy, she had seen a picture of a clone and a squad of cadets labeled “CC-2224 trains zeta squad”

She sat on the bed and reached out to the force again. Her father was still alive, and she had to find him

* * *

After the six day hyperspace travel to Lothal, Rex was put to work with the cadets immediately because he had shown good behavior during the trip there. His first assignment was to patrol the streets. He, Cody, eight cadets and an imperial officer were walking through the streets, watching the civilians go on with their business. Rex hates that he had to be part of this. The civilians looked scared of him. But he had to get through this. For Jaig.

Hanging out with the cadets wasn’t that bad at all. The kids were cute and he wasn’t seeing any actual combat. He had been instructed to just teach them what he knew.

“Captain Rex. Show these cadets how you deal with these merchants.” The officer said. He nodded and walked towards the stall.

“Good morning. This is a random inspection. Can I see your papers?”

“Of course, sir” the merchant said anxiously as he handed over a stack of papers. Rex inspected all of them.

“Sir, your license to sell perishable produce has expired a month ago. You should renew that as soon as possible, but I’ll let you off with a warning if you get it renewed within a week. I’ll come back to check after that”

“Thank you so much. We’ll renew it tomorrow” the merchant said, visibly relieved

Rex turned around to the group of cadets. “And that’s how you get the civilians to get their paperwork fixed.” He said. Then? He saw Cody had turned pale. He shot his brother a confused look, but the imperial officer ordered all of them to return to base.

Once there, he turned to Rex. “What do you think you were doing there soldier?”

“I was inspecting their paperwork and made sure it was up to date, sir” Rex said truthfully

“You were showing weakness! You told that civilian that the empire doesn’t need to be respected, and that they can get away with that insubordination. You implied that we’re as weak and corrupt as the Republic used to be. And for that, you will pay”

Without hesitation, the officer drew his weapon and shot Rex in the chest. He immediately knew this wound was fatal, but his heart was still beating. He still had a minute or so left, just like Fives had had. 

Cody ran to his side immediately and took him in his arms, just like how Rex had done for Fives twenty years ago.

“I’m sorry Rex. I should’ve told you not to fall back on the Republic protocols. I shouldn’t have assumed you knew that the protocol had changed drastically” Cody said through tears.

“It’s not your fault Codes. It wasn’t your job to tell me, it was theirs. They probably wanted me to disobey. I wouldn’t have lasted anyway.” He said “They wanted me dead Codes. This was just an excuse.”

Rex started coughing and he tasted blood.

“I’m so sorry. Please stay with me” Cody begged. In the background, Rex could hear the officer give the cadets a speech about how everyone is replaceable, just like Rex. And on how disobedience would be met with swift punishment.  
“I can’t. I’m sorry Cody. Make sure Jaig is safe. She has to make it out of here. Promise me, Cody”

“I promise” Cody said as everything went dark

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, sorry for all the sadness. After this I’ll send her back to the past to fix this and then this fic is over and we can get to preventing order 66 in the sequel.


	10. Back in Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jaig finds out what happened to her father and travels back in time to prevent the empire from rising

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, here is the last chapter. After this I’ll start on the sequel which will be a lot happier and I hope

After Jaig touched down in the Lothal, she had wasted no time locating the academy. It was late and all the troops would be tired. The perfect moment to try to sneak in. She crawled to the edge of the parameter on her stomach and tried to spot her father. She didn’t get a good visual on the man she saw sitting on a crate between two stacks of fuel pods, but the skin color, hair color, age, height and weight seemed to match up. His body language wasn’t that of a soldier, it was that of a broken man. She had to risk it.

She crawled closer to him until she was in the same alley as him. As she got up, he turned around and she saw his face. He looked just like her father, but something about him was off. She then noticed the scar above his eye. This was another clone.

“Sorry, I was about to leave” She stuttered out while considering what her best escape route was.

“Jaig?” The clone asked. ”Is that you?”

“Yes. How did you know?” She asked with a raised eyebrow

“Your father told me, before he died.”

“What? No!” She screamed. The clone quickly stepped closer and put his hand over her mouth

“Keep quiet. I have to get you out of here safely, I promised Rex I would” 

She nodded and he removed his hand.

“My name is Cody by the way” he said as he started looking around. She froze. This wasn’t just any clone, this was her father’s batchmate. One of the three people she was named after

“There, an intruder! Shoot to kill!” She heard from behind them.

She turned around to see a whole squad of storm troopers get into position to fire. She quickly put on her helmet, drew her blasters and took cover behind the crate Cody had been sitting on. Cody dropped down next to her and returned fire as well.

“Aim for the buckets, those are the the weakest point of the armor that’s easy to hit” he told her. 

She nodded and started aiming for their helmets, taking out two before the was hit in her own helmet, on the montral. The sound was overwhelming, but it didn’t hurt much more than knocking her montral on the top of a doorframe. This armor was good.

Cody was doing well too, but he had to duck for cover a lot more than her since he didn’t have his helmet on. Not that it would’ve mattered, the stormtrooper helmet he had was useless. They each took out three of the remaining six troopers.

When the fight was over, Cody put a hand on your shoulder. “You fight well kid. Back in the clone wars, you might’ve made it as an ARC trooper. But you wouldn’t make it as a stormtrooper. Everything they learn is based on keeping the population under the empire’s thumb. Your talents would be wasted here, you should try to make it as a bounty hunter now. I’ll bust you out of here, but I can’t come with you”

“Why not? You deserve better than this, uncle Cody”

She could tell he hesitated when she referred to him as uncle, but he shook his head.

“I would only slow you down, and they can track me. I’m full of trackers” he rubbed the back of his neck at that. Her father had a scar there, he said he got it from when he had his implanted tracker removed. “Besides, you need someone to stay behind and feed them an incorrect description. They can’t find you if they don’t know what you look like

She nodded. “If you ever get out, come find me”

“I don’t think I ever can adapt to civilian life, and I doubt I’d ever feel ready to risk it. But I’ll keep it in mind. Are you force sensitive?”

She nodded

“Good. I can take out all security cams without being seen except the one on the fence. I’ll shoot all of them, but then you have to take out the last one yourself with your helmet on and while dodging my blasterbolts. They can’t know we’re working together if you want me to get them off your tail. My aim will be off to the left of that helps. Stun me after the camera is destroyed and run as far as you can. Place yourself once out of sight. And then get off this planet”

“Understood” She said.

“Good. Now, get ready to run when I say so” he said as he took aim at one of the security cams overlooking the parameter around the weapons depot where they had been talking. He took out the next one immediately afterwards, and the next one followed seconds later.

“Now!” He ordered, and Jaig started to run as fast as possible, shooting at the last camera. She got it on the third attempt. She immediately turned around and set her blaster to stun. She hit Cody in one shot, and he fell to the ground like a ragdoll. She took one last look at him to make sure he was lying correctly (she didn’t want him to suffocate in the mud) and when she saw that he was she said “Thanks, uncle” before running off as fast as she could.

* * *

Jaig has been running for hours when she collapsed in the grass. Her sides burned and her armor felt terribly clammy from all the sweat that had built up underneath it.

She laid in the grass for a few minutes before she sat up and reflected on her encounter with Cody. She had followed his advice on instinct, probably because he was a natural leader like her father. She knew that he had very little reason to lie to her, but she still wanted to make sure that he wasn’t there anymore before she could consider what to do next. 

She reached out with the force, and her father was indeed gone. She tried to reach out to the force again, desperate for guidance. She found a vague feeling of reassurance and purpose, but she couldn’t place them. She cursed herself mentally for not paying more attention to the meditation her mom had tried to teach her before she started crying.

* * *

She didn’t know how long she had been crying when she heard soft footsteps near her. She looked up and saw a large, silver Loth-wolf approaching her. She had read up a bit on the local fauna, and knew that this animal was supposed to be extinct. She could also tell this wolf was acting strange. Most wild canines would avoid humanoids if they could, but this one was coming straight towards her. It didn’t seem like it was hunting her, and the wolf didn’t feel hostile in the force. She reached out to it.

“Come with me” the wolf told her.

She didn’t question it. The wolf felt safe and it felt like the force wanted her to go. She tried to get up, but her legs felt like jelly and her head was swimming. She realized she hadn’t eaten anything since this morning, and it was late afternoon now.

The wolf laid down on the ground and she climbed on its back, holding on to the soft fur. She barely noticed the wolf get up as she fell asleep immediately.

* * *

She woke up in the grass beneath one of the rock formations that she had seen almost everywhere on Lothal. 

“Hello Jaig” An unknown yet vaguely familiar female voice said. It echoed strangely in her montrals.

“Yeah, that’s me” she said as she looked up to see Morai.

“Morai? What are you doing here? How did you manage to leave Mandalore?” She asked in disbelief before realizing that the bird probably couldn’t understand her.

“I am everywhere” the corvor answered in the echoing voice she had heard previously. Her beak didn’t move, but Jaig knew it was her

“When did you learn how to talk?” Jaig asked, suspecting that she might be going insane now

“I have always known, even though I’m not actually speaking. I am the daughter”

“That’s... vague. Get to the point, bird”

“There is much anger in you, like the one you were named after. He used to be the chosen one, but the prophecy is no more. The dark side has gained too much power in this world. The galaxy is too far off balance, and therefore it is about to end. I can’t let that happen”

“Yeah well it’s too late to fix anything” Jaig spat angrily

“Your anger is justified, but you shouldn’t rely on it to fix the past. There is still a way to fix it. If you manage to convince the chosen one that he should not trust the Sith Lord, he might not fall to the dark side. But you should be careful about telling him about the future. My brother tried that she once, and he instantly fell to the dark side. He cannot know about what will happen and who he became. He can only know about the present and who he can and cannot trust” Morai said. 

“Wait, you’re going to fast. What does Anakin have to do with the current situation in the galaxy? He died” Jaig asked

“He didn’t die during order 66 like your parents always assumed. He fell to the dark side and became Darth Vader”

Jaig froze. She knew about this Sith Lord. He was all over the news, and she had been straight up terrified of him when she was younger, and that fear had never truly gone away. She was sure her parents didn’t know he had been Anakin during the clone wars. Her parents would’ve been devastated if they knew.

“How?” She asked, mortified.

“Darth Sidious, or Emperor Palpatine, manipulated him by taking away everyone he cared about. Don’t let that happen. Now, are you ready to change the past?”

“I don’t really know what I’m supposed to prepare anyway” Jaig said as she shrugged and stood up. “And I know that I’ll do whatever it takes to fix this whole mess. For my parents.”

“Good.” Morai said as the temple rose from the ground, revealing a painting of three figures. A pale woman with green hair holding up Morai, an old man with a long beard and a bald, gray skinned man with red facial markings. The three figures pointed to the right and the wolves that had sat at their feet ran away. “Follow me” Morai ordered as she took off.

Jaig ran after her. The wolves had formed a circle on the wall, and Morai dove straight into the middle of them. She disappeared into the wall, and Jaig did the same.

On the other side, there was a dark abyss with white walkways in all directions. There were voices everywhere, but the space felt calming. She still followed Morai, to a round doorway in a triangle in the emptiness. Morai hovered over it.

“This is the right door. Hurry up, before it closes”

She sped up and jumped head first into the portal. Her bucket his something metallic and everything went dark.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for sticking with me and this fic to the end :) kudos and comments are still very much appreciated, since they really make my day

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed it so far. Please leave kudos and comment, it would mean a lot to me


End file.
